Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences faced by Indian American children after exposure to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We demonstrate that there is an intimate connection—an almost exact correspondence—between James Mill’s colonial-racist discourse (Mill was the head of the British East India Company) and the current school textbook discourse. This racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces the same psychological impacts on Indian American children that racism typically causes: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon akin to racelessness, where children dissociate from the traditions and culture of their ancestors.


This book is the result of four years of rigorous research and academic peer-review, reflecting our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within academia.

Mahajanapadas

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Mahajanapadas literally means ‘great countries’.

Janapada or rāṣṭra is a country and its people. Certain janapadas seem to have acquired the name ‘mahājanapada’ during the period of early Buddhism. They were sixteen and spread over the Indo-Gangetic plains.

Though they were small territories, they might have got this appellation either due to the greatness of the dynasties of the kings that ruled them or due to their prosperity and militarily strength. Some of them are:

  1. Aṅga
  2. Magadha
  3. Kāśī
  4. Kosala
  5. Vajji
  6. Kuru
  7. Pāñcāla
  8. Surasena
  9. Kāmbhoja
  10. Avantī
  11. Gāndhāra


References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore